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Thank you to all of our fantastic sponsors who continue to support this iconic event.
Meet our wonderful sponsors for 2017! Their generosity makes it possible to continue to deliver this event that has won the hearts of generations of Australians.
If you, or your organisation, is interested in becoming a sponsor for Vision Australia's Carols by Candlelight in future, please contact our Sponsorship and Partnerships Manager, Renee Jess at email@example.com
Presenting Partner
Priceline Pharmacy
Priceline Pharmacy is Australia's leading beauty and health store for women. Priceline Pharmacy's first store opened in 1982 at Highpoint Shopping Centre, Victoria, and today there are 462 Priceline and Priceline Pharmacy stores nationally. Priceline's Sister Club has over 6.7 million members, making it Australia's largest health and beauty loyalty program. Priceline Pharmacy also supports charity partners through the Priceline Sisterhood Foundation – an initiative developed to support women and their families. Priceline Pharmacy is a sponsor of the Adelaide Thunderbirds, the Western Bulldogs AFLW and the Sydney Sixers Women's team.
Telecast Partner
Channel 9
Join Sonia Kruger and David Campbell as they host everyone's favourite Christmas Eve tradition, Vision Australia's Carols by Candlelight.
This year marks the 80th annual Carols by Candlelight where some of Australia's most loved stars will perform a selection of Christmas favourites.
Entertainers will give family, friends and loved ones the opportunity to share in the spirit of Christmas.
The Carols will be broadcast live from Melbourne's Sidney Myer Music Bowl on Thursday, December 24 at 8pm on Channel Nine.
Venue Partner
The Arts Centre
Situated in the heart of Melbourne's cultural precinct, the Arts Centre Melbourne presents an extensive performing arts program. Experience Australia's best companies and international productions, alongside celebrations of comedy, cabaret, popular and contemporary music in a year round program. The Arts Centre is thrilled to showcase its extraordinary outdoor venue, the Sidney Myer Music Bowl, and be part of Vision Australia's Carols By Candlelight® annual family evening.
Transport Partner
The Holden Equinox is a proud sponsor of Vision Australia's Carols by Candlelight. Available at Holden dealerships now, the Equinox is Holden's all-new mid-size SUV, packed full of technology like wireless phone charging, practical space features like a hands-free power tailgate, and enough performance to turn that Sunday drive into a Funday drive!
Holden's relationship with Australia started over 100 years ago and has grown to over 200 dealerships, a local Proving Ground to tune and test cars, a local state-of-the-art design centre and approximately 7,000 employees across the nation. It's a relationship like no other and one that will continue to flourish well into the future. From our Holden family to yours, we would like to wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Christmas Partner
Eastland is one of Melbourne's most progressive and exciting urban shopping, entertainment and leisure destinations - delivering a world-class retail offer and an authentic Town Centre for Ringwood. Eastland's best in class dining offer includes gourmet food operators such as Jimmy Grants – the souvlaki chain co-owned by celebrity chef George Calombaris – Frank Camorra's Paco's Tacos, 400 Gradi and cult burger outfit Huxtaburger. With big names such as Myer, Kmart, Big W, Safeway, Coles, Hoyts, Harris Scarfe and 230 of your favourite stores, Eastland is an easy shopping choice. Encounter more at eastland.com
Key Media Partners
3AW and Magic 1278 are an integral part of Melbourne and as such are proudly involved in the major events that form a vital part of our city's culture from the Spring Racing Carnival to the Australian Open. Vision Australia's Carols by Candlelight® is an iconic event of Melbourne and as such forms a very important component of our sponsorship calendar.
smoothfm is Melbourne's easy place to relax, dedicated to bringing its busy audience a stress-free environment of more music and less talk. smoothfm can be heard on 91.5 in Melbourne.
Wake up to The More Music Breakfast Show with Mike Perso and Jen Hansen, followed by Ty Frost and Simon Diaz across the day with all your smooth favourites before Byron Webb takes over for the drive home.
Then join Cameron Daddo for Mellow Music from 8pm Monday to Sunday nights for a superb blend of laidback music to help release the stresses of the day.
From Michael Bublé to the Bee Gees, Jason Mraz to George Michael, Adele to Elvis, the smoothfm playlist includes much-loved music that helps you relax and shut out the noise of everyday life.
Herald Sun
Herald Sun plays an important role in the Victorian community as a sponsor or supporter of numerous events and causes. It is Victoria's paper of choice – on any given day.
Accommodation Partner
Art Series Hotel Group
Inspired by and dedicated to Australian contemporary artists, Art Series Hotel Group offers a hotel experience a little extraordinary. Located in the hottest art and cultural hubs, the boutique hotels and Residences are currently found in Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide.
Each hotel takes design inspiration from the namesake artist. With original artworks and prints adorning the walls and halls, the multifaceted art inspired experience is complete with dedicated art channels, art libraries, art tours and art utensils on supply.
Boasting personalized service and sophisticated style, all suites showcase up to the minute comforts and technology with Art Series signature bedding to ensure the sweetest of sleeps.
Experience an extraordinary stay with Art Series Hotel Group.
Entertainment Partner
Entertainment Store
Entertainment Store Group is proud to be supporting Vision Australia's Carols by Candlelight®. As Australia's premier entertainment provider, Entertainment Store Group specialises in supplying quality live entertainment to retail, corporate, government and charitable organisations. From bands, comedians and celebrities to the world's most popular kids' shows and characters including Scooby-Doo, Ben 10, Angelina Ballerina and more - with Entertainment Store Group, anything is possible!
Supporting partners
Villa Maria
Founded in 1961 by Sir George Fistonich, Villa Maria has been making truly exceptional wines over the last 50 years. Focussing on quality and sustainability, we source the best grapes from around New Zealand. As a family company, the desire to leave something for the next generation is ever-present and an overriding business objective. As New Zealand's most awarded winery for the past 30 years, we are proud to be supporting Vision Australia's Carols by Candlelight.
Evans Evans
Acute Health
Acute Health is delighted to be a sponsor of Vision Australia's Carols by Candlelight. We will be on site at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl, the Live Site at Eastland in Victoria to provide expert first aid services if necessary.
With more than 170 sites and branches across Australia and New Zealand, Kennards Hire is Australia's #1 family-owned supplier of high quality, hire equipment. From DIY and small-medium projects to large construction sites, our equipment range is available to hire 24/7. Our team of more than 1,300 experts will deliver reliable, fair dinkum customer service and products to make your job easy.
At every Kennards Hire branch you can be sure:
- We have high-quality equipment
- Our customer service is second-to-none
- The equipment is always reliable
That's what makes us your local number one family-owned equipment hire business.
Further information https://www.kennards.com.au/
Ventura Buslines
Ventura is very proud to again join the celebrations at Vision Australia's Carols by Candlelight. Everything we do is focused on creating cleaner, smoother and safer journeys for the whole community. That's why, for over 20 years, Ventura has been providing bus transport for all the stars and officials, from rehearsals to the final performance. We look forward to supporting this iconic Melbourne Christmas spectacular for many years to come.
Southeast Water
AccessAbilityAustralia is the unique developer of creating increased access into community for people with disability through the use of Access Keys.
AccessAbilityAustralia strive to empower people with disability to live a full and productive life and we encourage community to provide universal accessibility to support the specific needs of people with disability.
An Access Key is the perfect accessibility experience guide developed for people with ALL disability or social anxiety.
Access Keys promote authentic inclusion, provide prediction and awareness, reduce anxiety, include sensory integration information and lead to increased participation.
Access Keys are professionally written and are endorsed by a practising Speech Pathologist and an Occupational Therapist.
Vicdeaf is proud to be supporting Vision Australia's Carols by Candlelight, ensuring accessibility for the Deaf community.
Vicdeaf is a progressive community service organisation with a vision for access, inclusion and equal opportunity for the deaf and hard of hearing community.
Established in 1884, Vicdeaf provides a range of services to meet this vision, including individual and group supports, language services, audiological support, employment services, Auslan and deaf/hearing awareness training and public education programs, advocacy and cultural and community programs.
Crosscom is proud to be supporting Vision Australia's Carols by Candlelight®, with the provision of high-tier digital two-way radio communications.
Crosscom provides highly innovative, quality communication services, delivered with professional local expertise. City-wide communication networks, installation, event hire, enhanced warranty services and system support are just some of the many areas in which Crosscom can deliver.


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Special Sessions
Negative results matter too!
Session Organizer: Karol Desnos (IETR, France) and Shuvra Bhattacharyya (University of Maryland, USA, and Tampere University of Technology, Finland)
Abstract: Frequently, researchers choose to develop an idea because early or theoretical results seem promising. When scaling up, or when implementing the idea in a realistic scenario, the results are not as good as expected. Unfortunately, publishing such results is very difficult, because the reviewing process generally promotes positive results. The special session is dedicated to the presentation of ideas that lead to negative results. Contributions are expected to present the original idea, to explain why this idea was expected to provide good results, to present how and why it failed, and to discuss the presence (or absence) of solutions to solve encountered issues. The objectives of this special session are threefold:
- To give credit to the research process that lead to the negative result.
- To help prevent other researchers from trying to develop this idea. If the idea seemed good at first, other researcher may have it one day. By publishing the idea and its unexpected negative results, you may save some time for other researchers.
- To promote good ideas behind the negative results. Some ideas producing negative results may need some adapting or fine tuning before they can achieve their potential. A negative results forum provides a way to disseminate these kinds of ideas so they don't just get buried.
◊◊ ◊◊ ◊◊
Virtual Prototyping of Parallel and Embedded Systems
Session Organizer: Michael Huebner (Ruhr-University Bochum , DE) and Diana Goehringer (TU Dresden , DE)
Abstract: Virtual prototyping stands for the development of hardware/software systems without using a real hardware prototype, i.e. no printed circuit board with electronic devices such as processors, field programmable gate arrays, peripherals and other devices is needed. The advantage is the possibility to exchange parts in the system setup with faster turnaround times in comparison to the traditional development process, where a time consuming redesign of the complete board has to be done. Since some years, the community exploiting these novel methods has grown as time to market plays a major role in industry. Additionally, the increasing complexity of embedded systems, which are more and more realized as parallel and distributed cyber-physical systems, forces system architects to perform a time-consuming design space exploration. For academics, virtual prototyping is also a hot topic. Researchers use virtual prototypes to develop future systems and to enable an outlook into the next generation of embedded systems and devices. The wide range of application scenarios for this type of development includes amongst others automotive, avionics, railway, consumer and medicine applications. This special session targets the domain of virtual prototyping focusing the following topics:
- Virtual prototyping development tools
- Methods for virtual prototyping of complex systems
- Application development with virtual platforms
- Methods for Hardware / Software Codesign with virtual platforms
- Design space exploration for parallel and distributed multicore and cyber-physical systems
- Estimation of system characteristics in an early stage of development
- Functional verification at a high level of abstraction
- Methods for modeling of IP cores with SystemC
- Usage of Architecture Description Languages (ADL) for IP-core development
◊◊ ◊◊ ◊◊
To submit a paper to either one of the conference tracks or the special session(s), select the proper option during the paper submission process. You can submit your paper here (Softconf - Open Soon)).

subset: commoncrawl


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- This event has passed.
2017 Fur Ball
October 7, 2017 @ 5:00 pm - 11:00 pm$75
Event Navigation
Join us for a magical evening on Saturday, October 7th from 5:00 pm to 11:00 pm at St. Coletta's Cabin for dancing under a canopy of trees on a beautiful hilltop. Enjoy the live music of Rod Ellenbecker and Madison's The Jimmys while savoring delicious food and a well-stocked open bar.
Dress up (or not) for a magical evening under the light of the almost full moon. Festively attired sprites, fairies, raccoons, bears… even top hat wearing humans are welcome!
A silent auction will be held from 5:00 pm until 8:00 pm, a live auction will be held at 8:15 pm, and a howling at the moon contest (with prizes) will be held at 9:00 pm.
Fur Ball registration is $75.00 per person. Registration must be received by October 1st. Registration is now closed.


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There's a new official Ramen character for Baby Star Ramen. Bee-Chan retires. It's the third character generation. It has appeared on December 20th. It's a boy who is proud of his shop. He loves music and dancing, and eats Baby Star Ramen when he's hungry. However, he hasn't have a name. That's why there's a campaign until January 9, 2017. The winner will get 1 million yen (there will be a lottery). There's another price: 360 Ramen meals, meals for a year. A maximum of 100 people will be the winners (also by lottery).
The winner name will be announced in the "Baby Star Character Name Ceremony" next January 31, 2017.


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Re: Adkins in Pittsylvania County Virginia
In reply to:
Re: Adkins in Pittsylvania County Virginia
Danny Ricketts 11/26/05
Danny: Owen was the son of William Adkins, Permilia was owens daughter. The children you list were Permelia's children. I had all this info in my other unit and I lost it. So now I need to go on memory. I had a picture of william, and one of Permelia. The father of her children was ?? Napiear( may be spelled wrong) He spoke no english, and was reported to be full blood indian. Some sites say she never married him. Through study I believe they were man & wife, only using the indian custom of the matraliniallaw, This indian law was that every thing in a union of marriage belonged to the wife, even the children.( this law was to protect the family,if the father who spent much of his time going to war or on food gathering hunts were to meet his death. There for there was no need to disturb the family unit by a division of property or dower. I do know that our family indians were used to work the plantations as slaves. If you have a good search site you can find Pompey in the slave mortality list as dieing at the age of 17. Our people were the Pohatten tribes along the James River, and the Chickahominy River along with the other Tide Water tribes. Please excuse me for not haveing a lot of direction to send you. I do remember that in 1912 a Lealand McAboy preached the burial sermon for the 4 year old son of Chief William Adkins, Chief of the Chickahominy Indians. This was at the New Samaria school that is now in CHARLES CITY CO. VA. A place on the map called Adkins Store.The counties have sometimes changed names so start digging . have fun Dottie


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Welcome to the gallery! Periodically I'll add new pieces to this page for you to view, and if you see something you like, let me know. Thank you, and God bless.
Collection 1: Remnants of Eden, Poster Gallery
As I have mentioned on occasion, I have spent the last several years writing and illustrating a book, Remnants of Eden: Evolution, Deep-time, & the Antediluvian World. In preparation of whatever is to come of that endeavor, here is a taste of the work you can expect from within!
Collection 2: Remnants of Eden, Acts of Creation & Beyond (Part 1)
Also from my book, this one details several of the Days of Creation & Beyond.
Collection 3: Scientific Creation Posters
I was recently commissioned to do a couple of posters for a new Creation Museum. Here are two of those posters along with two others that I made while in the swing of it all. More to come in time.
Like the art you see on here? Have a suggestion for something else?
Soon there will be an option here to order prints and other pieces from FOUNDRY4.
Stay with us here for updates
Subscribe to the blog here at WordPress, like us on Facebook, or follow me on Twitter at @FOUNDRY_4
FOUNDRY4 is a proud member of the International Association for Creation


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I've been in a Funk...
Not a crafting funk because I have still been crafting away, just an I don't want to sit at my computer and write about my craft funk!! I know I am pretty lame! But thanks to some lovely friends, maybe I am feeling it again! This past week I got together with some of my favorite gals and we crafted a little! We made these adorable butterfly necklaces that my Friend had found! Some made them for them selves others including me made them for our little girlys. Madi wore hers today and she looked darling!!
These were really simple! The hard part is just starting. We used rectangle scraps, diamonds ribbon, brads, wire, leather basically whatever your little head can come up with! My favorite part of my necklace is the two leather butterflys. We cut the shape of a butterfly out of leather and modge podged sheet music to the butterfly. I knew that my necklace was going to moo so I made sure the words on it were " love you" and "sunshine" Because well I love her and also one of our favorite songs around her is You are my Sunshine.
necklace that I made for my self awhile ago, it's not as bright as the other one!! So I don't feel as silly wearing this one around! In fact I have actually worn it twice!! Yahoo!!
Labels: jewlery, little girl


text: CO2017: Don't forget, your Midyear Semiformal Dance is scheduled for Thurs, 1/26 from 7-11pm at the Sheraton Town Center in Columbia. The cost of the dance was included in your Senior Dues package; if you are interested in going, you can still purchase this event "a la carte" by this Friday, 1/13: Pay $50 online through the Howard HS website or bring cash or check to Mrs Stratton in room N203. Remember, this is a HOWARD SENIORS ONLY event. For additional details, please see the attached flier. Any further questions, please see one of your class officers or Mrs Stratton (email@example.com or room N203).


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Monday, December 31, 2007
Like candles flickering the last hour of a year that's past.
Soon no more.
So quick it went.
A new year's dawn after the last night.
We have wished everyone a happy new year.
Resolutions half-heartedly made.
We've lived another year.
We know our promises will not last longer than a candle.
We wish.
We will be strong.
Our children will grow.
The world will get on with its usual stuff.
War. Peace. Negotiations.
Victories and losses.
Big and little.
We are.
As we were.
Sunday, December 30, 2007
say hello to the tree
It's old and wise.
Over a hundred years old I believe.
It was here before our house was built.
If you look carefully you will see his eyes.
He's observed several generations of children grow up.
Felt their hands and feet climbing his branches.
That;s why he's smiling.
He likes to have kids around.
And squirrels and birds and all the trillions
of little creatures that live on him. In him. Off him.
Listen. Listen carefully and you can hear him breath.
I swear he can talk to.
But then you must know the language of nature.
In modern societies very few people speak it.
I regret I don't.
Saturday, December 29, 2007
so what
My life.
My kids.
This is Louie.
With his pet Tulip.
Louie loves so much.
Oh, I Iove him. My Louie.
Look at his eyes.
I wish, I wish, that
he has my eyes.
But sharper.
I wish he has eyes wiser than mine.
I wish.
I wish the child will never have to face
the crueler realities of a grown-up life.
He will. Have to.
Oh, how I wish he could grow up, live,
without ever having to be a real grown-up.
Life is not always easy.
Not even for a child.
What it is.
It is.
There's so little I can do.
I never got it quite right in life.
Still. He still adores me.
In a few years time he will give me another pair of eyes.
I guess I'll deserve it then.
I never learnt much that's worth to teach.
I love him.
Thursday, December 27, 2007
The lighthouse
At first, it's tempting to be cynical.
Put it down.
Tacky. Naff. Bad taste.
Enough of that snobbism already.
It's lovely. Admit it.
Someone's offering neighbors and
by-passers something to smile about.
Rather generous.
Imaging the electricity bill.
If everyone took Christmas lights this seriously
the power grid would huff and puff and
explode into a display of fireworks worthy of a decade of
New York New Year's celebrations.
And this is New Jersey.
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Life is full of gaps
When you've survived your first 7-8 or so years as a human,
you already don't remember most of it.
You've learnt how to walk, speak and avoid the neighbor's angry cat.
Who your parents are. And that candy tastes better than food,
but is nevertheless not what you're supposed to eat.
That first memory gap is there for ever.
Only some expensive talk therapy, when you're grown up, can help you remember.
You're certain the cause of all your happiness lies hidden in one of those gaps.
Not that your shrink are as sure, but she's got to live too.
And you've never going to remember what you did when you were 2 anyway.
8 years olds are proud of their gaps.
They can cash in on them.
Provided the family houses a generous tooth-fairy.
Later you're told to mind the gap.
If you don't, you might never wake up to remember anything again.
Which would be a loss for your shrink, but a gain for certain other practitioners.
Then there's GAP of course.
Which is hard to avoid no matter what.
Your life is going to be a string of gaps.
Eventually closer and closer in between.
Merging into total stretches of voids.
Gaps between your sexual encounters.
Between you and and the next gig.
Your teeth.
Gaps, as wide as oceans between your neurons.
And finally the grand finale.
The gap of all gaps.
The end gap.
Until then. Keep smiling.
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Dancing with shadows.
It was 1995. Italy.
A couple of hours from Rome.
Gran Sasso.
By car. Alpha Romeo, red.
Roads winding up the mountains.
Ending at a small hotel.
This is where Mussolini spent his last days.
This is where they hanged him.
His room and toilet are still there.
Left as a sort of miniature museum in
a hotel renting out rooms as if nothing really happened.
Sparse. Cold.
The dictators room was.
The whole place was cold and sparse.
No other guests.
Late fall.
Hans and Cat. Spring. Love.
Or so it seemed. Probably was.
Now it's over.
It ended on another trip.
They were in Italy not for romance. It was work.
Why else stay where Mussolini hid
and got caught
and brutally paid the price for his sins.
They stayed where it was closest to next day's work.
The picture shows two people embrace.
Happily, smiling at the camera. A frozen moment.
A memory to savor for ever.
Can a picture tell more than the camera knew at the time?
A cross on the building.
Angular. Unfriendly.
Impenetrable walls of stone.
The nature, stark and naked.
Wispy clouds? Light spirited, dancing across their heads?
Or ominous, ghostly, foreboding, the calm before the storm?
Smiles for the camera?
The pose restrained?
An embrace not as close as it seemed?
Dancing. But not forever.
Is that what the picture tried to tell us?
More than ten years ago.
Monday, December 24, 2007
I wonder where she is now?
I don't even remember her name.
Even though she worked in my office in Amsterdam for a couple of years.
About 7-8 years ago I shot a series of portraits of some of my coworkers.
Using an old camera and polaroid film.
I washed the negatives of the polaroid sheets and printed from those.
My archives, if you could call my boxes of unsorted prints
and slides and negatives that,
are filled with pictures of people
I have met briefly or worked with periodically.
Being dreadfully sloppy I have no notes of who most of these people are.
Dreadfully senile as I must be I can't recall most their names.
Sometimes I wonder where life has taken them.
What became of them.
Where they live or work now.
How many kids they have.
What car they drive.
No, not really, I wouldn't ask what car they drive.
For some reason that's never interested me.
Maybe I haven't been interested enough in any of these people.
They've served as objects interesting for the lens.
I've mostly given them a print or two, so it's not as I didn't give anything at all back.
I nowadays shoot almost exclusively digitally.
It suits my restless character well.
So I get people's e-mail addresses.
They'll get a couple of jpegs.
Some of those names I remember to save in my online address book.
That doesn't necessarily translate into a better memory of who they are.
Just as my photo archives, my e-mail address book is full of names I can't recall I know.
They are names I can't connect with a face, or anything else for that matter.
Oh, how I admire people who archive properly,
and keep their address books complete with notes and phone numbers and all.
Sending on Holiday Greetings promptly to a million people every year.
Never missing any body's birthday.
Never missing anything it seems.
How do they find the time?
How do they remember to check who everyone is, and when.
One day I won't probably even remember my own name.
Nor recognize my own face in the mirror.
But that's another story.
Meanwhile I suffer only from photo archival self-induced Alzheimer.
Friday, December 21, 2007
Heck, I wouldn't have posted this if it wasn't for the fact
that I'd feel real shitty if I hadn't.
Like not going to the gym. Or running a mile.
Or tidying up the kitchen.
Which I didn't.
Habits are good for you.
At least I entered this picture.
Which I'm not terribly proud of.
Neither am I proud of the gibberish text that accompany the image.
But at least I wrote it.
A small insignificant achievement.
Discipline is a good thing.
As is breaking the rules now and then.
Feet on an office desk may actually be a sign of
courageous rebellion in times like these.
We're supposed to sit straight looking busy at all times.
Take our lunch at our desks. If we have a desk.
Mindless rather than thoughtful.
Tireless rather than fearless.
Sheep never put their feet on desks.
I guess they don't have feet a such.
You do need feet to stand up. And put on your desk.
Or even better, on other peoples desks.
Feet on desks may be as well connected to
the brain – generally located a few feet up the body – than feet on the ground.
Think about it.
Some of the best thoughts mankind may have had, might
have happened when feet weren't firmly planted on the ground.
Some people think well on their feet.
Others think better with their feet in the air.
Not their heads.
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Who enjoys it?
Cars being smashed up en masse.
Helicopters crashing into mountain walls.
Going up in flames.
Buildings blowing up.
Stuff crashing into them.
It hurts me.
It pains me to see the mast of
the Empire State Building being knocked askew.
I know it's just film. Make believe. Not real.
But it's this thing about destruction of stuff that's always bugged me.
It seems like such a waste to me.
I could never be a great general.
Could never order the bombing of a beautiful city.
Not even on film.
Special effects of that sort is not what I find entertaining.
And yet, I know most people just love to see things being blown apart,
torn up, destroyed, massacred and demolished.
The bigger and costlier the better.
I just don't enjoy it.
Even if it is just models filmed to look big like in real life.
Hey, why destroy such painstakingly put together models?
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Sing till you own your song.
I wrote a song tonight.
Haven't composed music,
or written lyrics
since I was young
and not so self critical.
I was young 20 years ago.
Or so.
I still think I'm young.
I'm young, for heaven's sake.
Younger than I've been in a long time.
Haven't changed that much.
Or so I think.
May have a few more gray hairs.
Actually all my hairs are gray.
At least those on my head.
My brain-cells are gray too.
Supposed to be.
Brain cells matters.
Programming them takes time.
Makes you younger.
Oh, the song.
Coming soon.
Stay tuned.
You've got to sing until you own your song.
If you know what I mean.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
it's cold outside.
Could inside.
Hearts like footsteps frozen in time.
Before there was.
There's warmth.
With young hearts not yet cold.
In rooms yet warm.
In beds with dreams.
Hearts filled with hope and love and trust.
Hearts with wishes and innocence.
Hearts that wants.
Hearts that belong to me.
A heart I want to conquer.
Be inside. Yet again.
I love.
Heart that has stopped.
Like a footstep frozen.
A sign of spring.
Happened tonight.
My heart jumped.
With hope.
Could it be?
I hope.
I wish. I love. My heart.
Always was.
Monday, December 17, 2007
Extra, Extra
Thanks Lally for featuring the link on your blog
Thanks Maher for putting it together.
If it wasn't so tragic it would be funny.
But nothing bites like humor.
That's probably why Maher was fired not long after 9/11.
good that he came back.
oh, so I'm not getting fired from my blog or sued or something i'll give credit to whomever took the nice photograph of Bill.
I didn't take it. I just took it off his site.
Fun in advertising
Okay, so I'm in advertising.
It used to be the most fun one could have with the pants on, as some clever celebrity creative famously said.
Could have been Jerry Della Femina, or George Louis, or Bill Bernbach, no, maybe not Bernbach.
Definitely not David Ogilvy. He wouldn't say such a thing.
It's now said by me, as by countless other admen before me. Probably not adwomen.
It's a lad's language.
Actually, I haven't had that much fun in advertising for years.
Mostly it seems like a string of endless meetings. And most of what I come up with gets shot down nowadays.
For any and a million reasons, none of them fun.
Which is an experience I seem to share with just about everyone I know in advertising.
Just look at most ads.
It couldn't have been that much fun to produce them.
I can't for my life believe that someone who calls being in advertising fun would by free will create such dross.
Therefore I smiled when I saw these posters for UniQlo.
No beautiful people to identify with.
No product shots as such.
No stupid headline.
No big buy now get one free.
No splashes.
Just fun and simple and tongue-in-cheek.
I wish I had been fortunate enough to have had the fun to do it.
Kudos to an obviously cool client, and a great team overall.
Nice the photos don't try too hard to overshadow the simplicity of the idea.
I'm truly tempted to buy one of the sweaters.
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Destroy and build anew?
View from the NJ Transit Dover train to New York.
Looking at one of America's worst managed cities, as it seems.
One of one America's most dangerous cities for sure.
Billboards ask for help from the entire community to rid the place of guns.
With all the shootings taking place to the left and right of the train tracks I'm surprised
the train hasn't be targeted.
The view that reminds those of us in better suburbs 15 or so minutes west that life could be real tough.
It's what makes many work a little bit harder to make sure they'll never have to risk their kids lives in schools
that are dangerous to enter. Or worse, dangerous to leave.
Newark. So close to New York.
A New York busting at her seems.
Making former suburbs in Brooklyn and Queens and now even Bronx too expensive
for people with normal humble salaries. People with families.
Newark being even closer to central New York than most New York boroughs
could be a fantastic place to live.
Hoboken, a few miles north along the Hudson
river on the Jersey side is already gentrified to the point that none of its original working class
inhabitants can afford to stay.
But for this to happen in Newark, the streets need to be safer.
Meantime, the rest of us pass through by train.
No sane man's land between the extremes of New York and the well off towns of Maplewood,
South Orange, Summit, and even more so Millburn with filthy rich Short Hills.
15 minutes between the American dream and an American nightmare.
Saturday, December 15, 2007
The Crystal Tree
It was so darn beautiful it almost broke my heart.
Like a fragile piece of glass.
Every tree, every branch, glistening and glittering and
sparkling in the setting sun.
Like jewels and diamonds and crystal chandeliers.
And yet, this beauty was the prelude to nature showing off
its merciless ability to destroy and wreck.
So strong. So weak at once.
The sun had started melting the snow that was covering
everything like sugar powder.
The afternoon turned colder.
Trees were groaning under the weight of ice
on their every branch
and twig and yellowed leaf left.
Pines with needles five times their normal weight.
To ease the burden they dropped some of their limbs.
Others simply couldn't carry their own weight and fell to an early death.
Knocking over others in their way.
Dragging with them cables.
Cutting out electricity.
In every window soon the flicker of candle-lights.
Followed by the sirens of emergency.
Roads needed to be closed and cleared. Cables fixed. Roofs repaired.
The morning light arrived to announce a beautiful last act of brilliance.
The ground was covered in splintered wood of fallen branches.
Twigs in bits and pieces.
Yellow tape stretched across roads not yet cleared.
And yet, look up, and the crystals glittered like they'd never seen the mayhem.
The young and healthy had survived.
Dressed in its most beautiful winter shroud.
Friday, December 14, 2007
I hope he won't be pissed off now
This guy is one of the coolest guys I know.
He's got brains.
Which he uses.
To think with.
And frequently steering his fingers onto a computer keyboard where words form.
Words worth reading and reflect on.
Some of which can be found on www.adaged.blogspot.com
He's got a heart.
A big heart.
Which he uses to feel with.
Although I've heard one doesn't really feel with ones heart,
but rather the stomach.
It's the stomach that hurts when you get overly stressed.
It's your stomach that turns when you witness horrible things.
Butterflies don't appear appear in your heart, but in your stomach.
I'd like the idea of a good heart though.
It's more unique. It's a rare thing.
George is unique.
He might also be the only visitor to this blog.
Which is one reason I keep publishing it.
Just to show I'm not a quitter.
Thank you, George.
You, and my kids, keep me up.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
what media vehicle can beat this?
It contains about 316 pages.
28 pages are what may be referred to as editorial content.
Full page bleed, artistically pleasing photographs of beautiful women in beautiful clothes.
A handful of these pages had the actress René Zellweger, beautifully clad and made-up,
posing in fashion like photographs, shot in, i think, Paris.
Complemented by a truly deep interview.
Just kidding. It wasn't deep.
This being Original content exclusively produced for this vehicle.
But quite likely sponsored by the brands displayed on the models.
Mentioned by names in elegantly designed captions.
As I counted further I discovered 11 pages containing small notices,
gossip and party pictures of the beautiful and famous.
Tips on what bag to buy and such. What lipstick to use with the Christmas ham.
Best scents for I don't know what. Most of this material I suspect
is stuff they buy from the outside and package in their own style and lay-out.
A couple of pages contained the masthead.
Another page a few words from the editor in chief.
Editor in chief of what?, one may ask, considering the meager content.
This might have been one of the thinnest magazines out there,
if it hadn't been for the ads in it. About 250 or so pages out of the 316 being ads.
I probably missed a few as it was too tedious a job to count them.
Most of them curiously identical. Fashion brands, skin creams and perfumes mostly.
I've got nothing as such against pretty ads
with nice photographs in them.
I just wonder how this is possible?
People are actually paying money for a magazine
about fashion that basically only contains ads?
I don't get it.
Or are people who like clothes and nice shoes that shallow?
And what do the advertisers think they get out of it?
I mean, if you're ad number 68 on page 276, who would remember?
Yes I know, these brands are everywhere in every fashion book,
it's about staying on the map.
Even I recognized most of the names.
But hey, if some new brand tried to break through someone's skull bone,
would this vehicle be the one to do the job?
The name of the magazine is Harper's Bazaar.
The idea is ingenious, quite obviously.
I wonder, could a website ever,
ever get this much advertising with so little content to offer between the ads?
ww.harpersbazaar.com has its fair share of ads,
mixed in with shopping advice and the typical tips on beauty secrets.
As a site is somewhat more time consuming to navigate I didn't bother
to check whether all the advertisers from
the magazine was also advertising on the site.
Don't think so after a quick click.
I've come across Vogue, and other fashion magazines as well,
and they all seem equally packed with ads,
equally lacking in original content.
Is fashion the only special interest area in which people are content with ads only?
I mean, nobody would ever buy a music magazine with only ads,
even though I know Sam Ash's catalogue is a bit of a turn on for people who like musicians gear.
Car freaks, however freaky, would never buy a car magazine without any other content than ads.
Not even porn gets away with it this easily.
Beat that! A thin shell filled with money.
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Service, please wait.
We read that services are what the new economy
to a great degree is supposed to consist of.
As people in the developed world apparently have more and more
free time to spend.
I don't know.
Trying to get serviced is a full time job.
Maybe that's what they mean?
It's now almost 3.30 in the afternoon, and I'm
not yet finished with getting today's services
I'm in the middle of trying to get hold of American Express
and Bank of America to try and figure out why they charge me twice
for two identical services.
My taking care of getting service day started just after the kids went to school 8 A.M this morning.
I first went online to check where I could find a hinge to a kitchen cabinet.
I needed to replace it as it had collapsed and was irreparable.
Worn out, simply.
After a not too gruesome wait I did indeed get hold of a human being
who informed me the product in question was discontinued.
After further inquiry I was confident they did indeed have a new part, almost identical,
but improved part, that would fit perfectly.
I was after further prodding told both Lowe's and Home Depot would carry it.
Armed with a fresh product number I first went to Lowe's.
Nope. They didn't have it. Neither did they have anything else that would fit.
No pirate parts in other words.
They did indeed carry the brand, but not really.
They use some parts in their own products, which meant they couldn't really help.
Or at least it seemed extremely difficult.
So I decided to try Home Depot, which is actually closer to where I live.
I had decided to try Lowe's first as I always go to Home Depot and they never seem
to have what I need and have no people to help.
Not at all like the commercials.
The only thing the commercials have in common with the real Home Depot
close to where I live is the orange apron.
The same apron that could have been worn by the woman in the trunk in yesterday's entry.
Well, the hardware department didn't have what I was looking for,
but advised me that the kitchen cabinet department might have it. Which makes sense.
At the kitchen cabinet department one lady was serving a person who was there with her contractor
ordering a complete and complex kitchen.
Despite several empty computer screens on several empty desks with decidedly empty chairs in front of them,
no other client service person appeared.
While waiting I checked a display where they indeed had the brand I was looking for.
But no luck as far as this particular part went, so i had to wait.
50 minutes later, it was finally my turn. The service person, if it indeed was a person,
halfheartedly poked at the keyboard of her computer and then informed me i had to go to the hardware department.
Where I'd already been, I told her. Well, she said, you have to talk to their information desk, not one of the people in the ails.
So i wandered through the vast hangar that is Home Depot and found what looked like a service counter.
The person, or what it might be, behind the counter informs me she doesn't work for Home Depot.
- So whom do you work for?
- I'm representing a brand of keys!
- Okay, so where's the hardware service person? As you're behind the desk that says hardware service desk.
- Oh, there's none, that's why I am here.
- But you can't help me with hardware inquiries?
- No, that's not my job!
To which I turn around trying to find somebody else in an orange apron.
Across the hall is a counter that says professional contractors services.
At least the people there are nice and friendly, but apparently they
can't access the system that i need access to in order to order the spare part that I need,
so they tell me hardware or kitchen cabinets should be able to help.
I explain that i've been there. Sigh.
I'm then told there's another special services counter at the other end of the hangar.
So I try that.
There they inform me that it's at hardware. I say no, it's not hardware.
Okay, so it's kitchen cabinet. Nope, it's not kitchen cabinets I say.
I ask for manager. I do indeed get to talk to a manager.
Surprise, surprise, i was starting to think the place didn't have any management at all
judging by how it operates.
This manager person actually tries to find the product on one of the computers,
but has to inform me that only kitchen cabinets can get to it as they need
a SKU number or something which he doesn't have.
So. I ask him to escort me back to Kitchen cabinets and explains the situation.
They say they don't have the SKU number.
But for heaven's sake get it ten, I demand.
Oh, you'd have to call customer service for that, is the reply.
ME, calling customer service for that. I am in the store, trying to get a part,
by a brand they do indeed carry.
So i wonder how the heck they communicate with the company in question when ordering stuff.
The person in kitchen cabinets, who is still the only person there, doesn't know.
Of course. What a silly question.
So I ask her to call customer service for the company that makes the hinges
and get the SKU or whatever the number is called she needs.
She claim she doesn't know the number to them.
so I give up, go home and calls the hinge making company again.
I get the same reply. I need to go to Home Depot and order it from there.
And no, I can't get the SKU number,
that's a Home Depot special order number which they should have.
So I go back to Home Depot, go to the queen of kitchen Cabinets,
and tell her to call the 800 number I have written on a big piece of paper.
- Call and ask for the frigging SKU or whatever it is called number.
Which she reluctantly does. I guess she fears I will shoot her something otherwise.
At such a vast store so lacking in service personnel, and customers,
there are no witnesses available.
- Is there anybody in here? As Pink Floyd might have asked.
After a relatively short wait she gets through and gets her number,
and the product number is indeed correct and the bloody part costs $6.15.
It will arrive in 2 weeks approximately, but i will have to call and check
because they don't call. As if.
The name of all these desks i went through, including the 800 number,
are called headlined customer service.
Customer waste-of-time desks would be better. Or Customer piss-off desks.
Customer heart-attack provocation desk, or simply No Service Desk.
I also suspect the person at the kitchen cabinets was actually illiterate,
which could be the reason for her inability to help me.
She keyed in the price $ 6,015.00 instead of $6.15.
Or is that company policy, a way to increase the dwindling share price?
Monday, December 10, 2007
Classic NY, sorry for being late
No excuses.
It wasn't the traffic.
Or the train from Jersey.
Not delayed this time.
Or slow escalators up to the street level from Penn Station's arrival hall.
It wasn't the weather.
Or strong head winds.
I didn't get abducted by aliens.
It was just me not getting around to it.
Getting out of habit.
Got lazy.
it's like jogging or going to the gym.
Miss one day and it's easy to miss the next and the next again.
And sooner than you know it you'll have to pull
yourself up by the roots of your hair to get going again.
It's easier if you have hair. On the scalp.
I'm talking about this blog.
Or the lack of it the last couple of days.
Major advertisers and sponsors are threatening to withdraw.
But hey, I don't blog for money.
Or glory, even. those days are long gone.
Everybody's got a blog.
If you don't you simple are not.
You're nothing. You don't actually exist.
That part of not existing started to bother me a bit.
I like food. If one doesn't exist one does not getting any.
You're not getting anything if you know what I mean.
One, unfortunately, or preferably, needs to have something to say to write a blog.
Or at least one needs to be able to say it in an interesting way,
whatever one's saying.
I read for the joy of reading. I readily admit what I read needs NOT be important.
I can get drawn into silly pieces on how to knot a tie in five different, and with which shirt collar it goes, or what the stripes on a striped tie really means i the hunt for a perfect wife.
And i haven't even worn a tie once the last five years or so.
It's just the act of reading that I enjoy.
I find this sort of reading material and magazine's for men and others.
What's nice about these little articles is the obvious joy the writer feels when writing.
Even if the topic is not earth shattering.
A nice little joke here,
some wit there,
a skillful turn of phrase to impress the editor,
ensuring the next gig coming up.
Whether on the topic of be the perfect omelette for a morning after,
or how to light a Cohiba no. 5
and mix a g & t in a gentlemen's club in Mumbai.
Today, perhaps, I simply tried to enjoy the act of writing, and associating.
So I picked up on my typical NY excuse,
as my randomly chosen picture seemed to suggest it.
Or at least let me associate in that direction.
A lazy choice for a lazy writer.
I guess I could have, should have, spun a story around
the guy looking into the trunk,
finding his wife tied up and gagged.
Naked, apart from an orange apron from The Home Depot.
and a pair of Martha Stewart rubber gloves.
However. I stick to the apology for being late. For now.
The wife in the boot would take a book to get out of.
Although I'm sure it got you wondering.
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Being eight
Having friends around. Sharing a pizza.
Between killing and slaughter.
When I was eight we also warred.
Killing each other. No mercy.
Indian and Cowboys.
I was a proud Apache, my gun was an rifle shaped stick
I'd found in the woods near our house.
If there were girls around we took them hostage
and tied them up to trees and left them there until they managed to wriggle free.
We didn't really hate the girls as much as we said we did.
But who could admit that 8 years old?
I'd fantasize about marrying a pretty squaw and live in a teepee,
next to the little brook,
not too far into the forest.
When my youngest kid, the guy at the far end to the right in the picture,
in a red tee, turned 8 the other week he threw a little bash at home.
There where both boys and girls to my surprise.
But killed each other they did.
Even the girls.
They've got video games so brutal that I wonder how I,
or their mother, could ever allow the kids to play them.
But what can we do? What my kids don't have, others bring with them.
That's life.
And frankly, at the end of the day,
I don't think they are more attached emotionally to the graphic brutally
of those games than we were running around trying to imitate
the sound of guns and shouting "You're dead".
Sunday, December 2, 2007
The other side of a moment of joy
When I was a kid there was a certain
anticipation in the air when the circus or the ambulating
amusement-park rolled in.
Some even had animals.
The came in the evenings.
Snuck into the town.
Parked their caravan of trucks and mobile homes in a park near the main street.
Sometimes we were awake when they came.
Those where nights we couldn't sleep.
Nights when we tried to sneak out.
To catch a glimpse of these mysterious people.
Hoping to hear a lion roar.
Spy on the circus princess.
Dreaming about joining them. Leave home, and go out in the world.
Walking on a tight-rope high above the heads of a mesmerized audience.
Quiet now. Absolutely quiet. Concentration. Adrenaline.
Is it us that have changed?
Grown up.
Or has time changed so much that the mystery
and the joy of a traveling amusement group is no longer?
Does it really tickle our children?
The children of today.
Kids with computer games so advanced that flying to the moon no longer seems that fantastic.
What can a 30 second not so amusing ride do for them?
The only animals being someone's guard-dogs locked into the back-seat of a truck.
And the squirrels, that are there anyway. Circus or not.
Has it just become a sad and desperate grab for quick money and a joyless experience
where nobody really cares if anyone has any fun.
A quick sugar fix without satisfaction.
I remember the melancholy of the last ride when I was a kid.
It was a sweet kind of melancholy.
Everything closing down. People rushing around to pack and take down tents
and then spend one last night before leaving.
They always stayed in their mobile homes.
But we heard laughs from inside.
When they counted their money.
Played cards. Got drunk.
Then someone would come out and piss in the open, against some nearby tree.
And quickly disappear back in again.
The next morning when we woke up they would be gone.
Like they'd never been there.
For a week or two we dreamed about becoming traveling circus artists.
We practiced acts in our back-yards. We tried to juggle bottles and walk on ropes we tied between
the rain gutter and the nearest tree.
Soon we gave up. We forgot.
But sometimes at night we lay in the dark fantasizing about the caravan
of mysterious people, somewhere on the road.
Promising ourselves that next year,
next summer,
then, then we would be ready, and we would become one of them.
Following them out in the world.
Migrating birds
The kids have been up for an hour or two already.
Despite going to sleep later than usual late night.
That's the way it is when having a sleep-over.
There are lots to talk about.
And not only about what the Pokemons are up to.
10 year olds have quite sophisticated relationships.
Kaleb, Louie's best friend, is in town.
He and his family moved to California a year ago.
But his soul didn't move.
Kaleb is still and East coast boy. A Jersey boy.
A guy who refuses to accept the move.
He hasn't bothered to make any new best friends in his school.
He is convinced they'll move back here again in the spring.
But it's the climate that will decide that.
The job climate.
His parents are both from here.
They grew up here and lived here until work took them west.
They didn't want to go, not really,
and resisted settling in,
telling themselves it's just temporary.
"This was my best sleep-over ever",
declared Kaleb when waking up.
It's time for him to pack his bag and head for the airport.
You've got to go where the cheese is.
That's how we survive.
Those of us who know how to fly.
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By Neetha Kurup:
When one hears the name Erin Brockovich, one is immediately inclined to think about Julia Roberts' Academy Award winning role in the eponymous movie released in 2000. Brockovich is known for helping to build the case against the US West Coast energy corporation, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, proving them responsible for the groundwater contamination in Hinkley, a small town in California.
Julian Assange is yet another popular person in the 21st century. He is the founder of Wikileaks–a website that is known for releasing confidential government documents about the Afghanistan War, corruption in Kenya, among other subjects.
The term to describe these two individuals would be 'Whistleblowers'. A whistleblower is one who informs the public or the concerned authorities of suspected illegal activities. These illegal activities could range from violation of simple law to fraud and corruption.
Whistleblowers are sometimes praised for their brave actions in upholding honesty and sometimes referred to as snitches or 'tattle-tales'. Either way, the whistleblower is under risk of retaliation from the people or organization which they have accused.
For example, a police officer accused Mayawati, Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, of embezzling money from the government funds for personal use. The man was thereafter locked up in a mental asylum and cited 'insane'.
A more appalling scenario is that of IIT graduate Satyendra Kumar Dubey and IIM graduate Shanmughan Manjunath.
Dubey was a project director at National Highways Authority of India who brought to light the corruption involved in the Golden Quadrilateral highway construction project. He discovered that the hired contractors subcontracted the work to cheaper organizations of lower quality. He received threats but he went on, going as far as writing to the then Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee. On 27 November 2003 he was murdered while returning from a wedding. Three of the suspects questioned by the CBI ended up missing or poisoned to death.
Manjunath was an IIM graduate working for the Indian Oil Corporation who had sealed off two petrol pumps when he discovered that they were selling diesel adulterated with petrol. When these opened a month later, he decided to do a surprise raid. Manjunath was found murdered three days later in November, 2005.
Following the two deaths there were cries for justice in India and abroad (owing to the IIT, IIM status of the victims). Pressure mounted on the government to introduce a law to protect those who wished to uphold justice and, thus, in April 2006 India became the fifth country in the world (after UK, USA, Australia and New Zealand) to introduce the law to protect whistleblowers who give information on corruption in public life. The Chief Vigilance Commission (CVC) was authorized to receive all complaints regarding corruption in public life that would affect the Central Government. Leakage of the name or details of a whistleblower was made illegal. The CVC was empowered to carry out preliminary investigation into the complaint and initiate the necessary actions against the concerned government employees.
But has this been effective?
In 2010, Satish Shetty–a leading Right to Information (RTI) activist was found murdered. He was responsible for the exposure of many land scams in the state of Maharashtra. Other social activists have been threatened as well as attacked.
All hope is not lost however. The Manjunath Shanmugam Trust and the S. K. Dubey Foundation for Fight Against Corruption have been set up by the alumnus of IIM and IIT respectively to honour the bravery of Manjunath and Dubey and to carry forward their legacy. The Satyendra K. Dubey Memorial Award and The Manjunath Shanmughan Integrity Award are given to those who uphold values of human integrity and rectify evident corruption. All that is needed is the integrity of the individual citizen. With the formation of the Jan Lokpal Bill, corruption in India could be seriously dealt with a blow.
But as all other laws in the Indian Constitution, all that remains to be seen is the proper implementation. The RTI, the Jan Lokpal Bill and the Whistleblower Protection Act are all strong laws, but without a strong law enforcement agency they might as well be just words on paper.


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SCHOOLGIRL WITH A LIGHTSABER. I really did not know how to start this off without blurting that out. It also has Metroidvania style gameplay, a TurboGrafx-16 charm to the graphics, and pretty catchy music. Are you interested yet? If so, Good..If not, go fuck yourself.
Obviously when I say Metroidvania, most people get what that actually entails, but for those who don't, it is describing the type of 2D open-world with save points seen in both the Metroid franchise, as well as many of the later 2d Castlvanias. It has the RPG-eque level-up system you would expect from this sub-genre, as well as power-ups and items you can find while running around the world. Some power ups add magical attacks that add to the type of attacks you can execute, much in the same way you executed Magic in Castlevania SOTN.
The graphics style reminds me of a cross between Keith Courage, Master Blaster, and Kendo Rage. Unlike most retro style games, this is actually a widescreen format, so no stretching or side-blocks if you are playing it on a more recent manufactured monitor (it letter-boxes if you have a classic screen format monitor). The sprites and animations are damn good, and the enemy design has a good amount of variety.
The controls…welll….yeah, if you are not a hardcore PC diehard, you will need a controller mapping program (YES, I too am getting tired of people who make retro console style games, but skip on the controller part of the retro console experience. I think it's kind of lazy). After you get a good comfortable config on your controller with a mapper…it is pretty responsive and feels natural, at least on my PS2 USB hubbed controller. Below is my controller map using Xpadder. Just remember that when you hit "Esc" while the game is running, the entire game switches off……this fuct me a few times so be mindful of adding that to the controller config. I added in F4 so I can fullscreen.window mode from the controller also, and I find it is pretty handy for backing in and out of the game without stopping it all together.
The music is so catchy that I swear it is actually from another game…but not a game I can recall. You will indeed get stage music caught in your head obviously from playing the same area a few times, but it is reasonably pleasant 90s style Console game music…not on par with Metroid or Castlvania…but certainly better than the average OST for a free game of this type.
As for the story…well, I can tell there is one there, but I'm not too sure what is going on. there is plenty of dialog when you encounter other humanoids in the world, such as bosses and/or merchants, but I can't say I rightly know just what in the fuck they are talking about. But that does not matter, because if a game like this had no written story, i would still be perfectly satisfied with it…Although I have not actually gotten farther than the fourth boss, so perhaps shit gets serious or even just a bit more clear, but as of the time I wrote this, it just was not really there.
So aside from the lack of controller support, this game is pretty damn well made, as well as being a hell of a good time if you enjoy this sub-genre of sidescrolling-action-rpg-platformer (yea, it's just easier to say Metroidvania, isn't it?). It's a schoolgirl with a pink lightsaber fighting robots and using magic…if you don't dig that, well then I simply do not know what to tell you because that is a pretty sweet fucking combination. It's a fun, and well worth the time and the effort it takes to set up a controller mapper….and as always, it is completely Free & Legit.
Download the game from the Yoyo Games page HERE :


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Internet technology helps Students learn creatively and effectively. It encourages collaborative learning and the sharing of good practice amongst academy staff and students. The e-safety policy is there to encourage appropriate behaviour and safe conduct. E-safety is conveyed in the school by
E-safety events, e.g. Safer Internet Day and Anti-Bullying Week.
E-safety as part of pastoral care including: form time activities; assemblies; year group presentations; tutorial opportunities.
E-safety as a PSHE teaching unit including (but not limited to): how to deal with cyber-bullying; how to report cyber-bullying; the social effects of spending too much time online.
Students, staff and all other users of school-related technologies will work together to agree standards and expectations relating to usage in order to promote and ensure good behaviour.


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Blu-ray vs. HD DVD: a Solution Abroad
Some Movies Are Available In Opposing Format Overseas; Turn Off the French Dubbing
Some savvy consumers are looking overseas for a way to take some of the risk out of buying a next-generation DVD player.
Many movie lovers have repeatedly said they are reluctant to buy one of the new high-definition movie players because of a format war pitting two incompatible technologies against each other. As the battle has unfolded, some studios have made deals to exclusively distribute their titles in one format or the other. Sony Pictures, for example, releases high-definition titles only in the Blu-ray format, which...


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OFFICIAL SELECTION ~ 2013 The Dragon Who Pulled Her Scales
By William Michael Davidson ~ Long ago, in a world where dragons were the world's protectors, a beautiful girl dragon named Ellam lived in a cool, misty cave. Although Ellam liked to have fun with her friends, she had a secret.
She liked to pull out her scales.
Ellam was always careful to cover her body-she didn't want anyone to see that she was missing her scales. That is, until one day when Everwynn, the great king of the dragons, needed someone for a special mission. Someone without scales. Join Ellam on her exciting journey as she discovers that everyone's wounds have purpose, and the storms we travel through are part of a greater plan.
Note to parents: Although this book is intended for children struggling with the effects of trichotillomania-compulsive pulling out of one's hair-it is ideal for any child (or adult) who needs to be reminded that our differences do not decrease our value.
NOMINATED by: Stacy Nakell, IOCDF Professional Member
This book is a wonderful tale for children who struggle with body-focused behaviors. It reframes the wounds that come from pain as the struggles that make us unique, and encourages self-compassion and acceptance. ~ Stacy Nakell
AVAILABLE: Amazon in paperback.
4 Responses to OFFICIAL SELECTION ~ 2013 The Dragon Who Pulled Her Scales
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Thank you. I oversee my Facebook Page myself and enjoy responding to reader questions and organizing it myself. Glad you like it!
Very informative post.Much thanks again. Really Cool.
Thank you! Hope the book goes a long way in helping to promote understanding of trichotillomania.


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Ladislav Hornan, who is chairman of the British Czech and Slovak Association, has enjoyed a very successful career and led one of the UK's top accountancy firms for many years. He came from a relatively privileged background in Prague, where his mother Magdalena Horňanová was a music professor and writer. Unusually, Mr. Hornan returned regularly to Czechoslovakia after emigrating in 1968. Until, that is, he spent almost a month in a Prague jail on spying charges in the mid-1980s. In a meeting room at his company's City of London building he shared
Czechs are marking the 49th anniversary of the death of student Jan Palach who set himself on fire on January 16, 1969, in protest to the growing public apathy to the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. He died three days later; he was just 20 years old. A number of events were scheduled to honour his memory and sacrifice including a memorial ceremony at the Philosophy Faculty at Charles University on Tuesday afternoon.
Fifty years ago on January 5, 1968, the news came out of the ongoing central committee party meeting of the Czechoslovak communist party that Slovak, Alexander Dubček, had been chosen as the new party boss. Dubček was little known in Czech circles but his name would soon be known around the country and the world.
Moscow has issued a sharp protest over the vandalizing of a statue of
Soviet Marshal Ivan Konev in Prague which was spray painted with the dates
1956, 1961, 1968 and 2017 earlier this week. The Russian Foreign Ministry
denounced the act as vandalism and an insult to those who had laid down
their lives in the liberation of Czechoslovakia.
The incident happened shortly after an offensive article appeared on a Russian web which said the Czech Republic should be grateful for the 1968 Soviet-led invasion which had brought the country 20 years of peace and stability. On a state visit to Russia, President Zeman protested against the insult to his country and Russian Prime Minister Medvedev publicly distanced himself from the article.
Marshal Konev is perceived as a controversial figure in the Czech Republic. After being present on several fronts in WWII, Konev was involved in the suppression of the Hungarian uprising in 1956 and was also present in Berlin for the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961.
In his twenty years as editor-in-chief of the publishers Faber and Faber, Robert McCrum introduced some of the best Czech writers, including Václav Havel, Milan Kundera and Josef Škvorecký, to English speaking readers. This was in the days before the fall of communism and his visits to Czechoslovakia involved a cat-and-mouse game with the authorities. A few days ago Robert McCrum returned to the Czech Republic, to see how the country is faring on the eve of the fortieth anniversary of the Soviet-led invasion. He spoke to David Vaughan.
Russian Prime Minister Dmitriv Mededev has distanced himself from the
article published on the website of Russian state-wide television channel
Zvezda on Tuesday, maintaining that Czechs should be grateful that
Soviet-led forces invaded Czechoslovakia in 1968.
During a meeting with Czech president Miloš Zeman in Russia, Mr Medvedev said the article didn't reflect the position of the Russian leadership and expressed the personal opinion of the author.
The article in question claimed that the Soviet led forces had prevented the West from orchestrating a coup in the then-communist country by means, it claimed, which were delayed until 1989.
An article published on the website of Russian state-wide television channel Zvezda on Tuesday has drawn very sharp responses from Czech politicians, including Miloš Zeman, the Czech head of state. He called the article, which argued that Czechs should be grateful for the 1968 Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia, an insult to the nation.
Czech politicians have slammed an article published on the website of
Russian state-wide television channel Zvezda, run by the Russian Defense
Ministry, on Tuesday, maintaining that Czechs should be grateful that
Soviet-led forces invaded Czechoslovakia in 1968.
The article in question claimed that the forces had prevented the West from orchestrating a coup in the then-communist country by means, it claimed, which were delayed until 1989.
On the contrary, the Soviet-led invasion in 1968 crushed the period of democratic reforms in Czechoslovakia known as the Prague Spring. The events of 1968 ushered in the so-called Normalisation period during the 1970s and Soviet troops would remain on Czechoslovak soil for more than 20 years.
The article, written by Leonid Maslovskij, caught many off guard as it was published the same day Czech President Miloš Zeman met with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Sochi and later travelled to Moscow. According to iDnes, Mr Zeman, widely seen as a pro-Russia politician, was angered by the report; Foreign Minister Lubomír Zaorálek slammed the article as twisting and misinterpreting historical facts and made clear such articles were no way forward to good relations.
Defence Minister Martin Stropnický went further by calling the article "outright lies" and expressed regret the article had come during an official state visit by the Czech head of state. President Miloš Zeman will reportedly address the matter while in Russia.
Zvezda responded that the opinions expressed in the article were the author's own.
The 100th anniversary of the revolution bringing the Bolsheviks and Vladimir Lenin to power in Russia is being marked with discussions and exhibitions in the Czech Republic. Although the events preceded the creation of a separate and independent Czechoslovakia around a year later, Czechs and Slovaks were very much caught up in what was happening.
Czech tourist killed by shark in Egypt
Czech soldiers serving in Afghanistan killed by suicide bomber
Prague exhibition brings August 1968 invasion to life
Heatwave continues to put pressure on businesses, individuals alike
Precious Renaissance shield looted by Nazis to return to Czech Republic from US


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Family Getaway PackageEnjoy a relaxing family getaway in Columbia. Book the Family Getaway Package with 4 tickets to either Riverbanks Zoo and Gardens or EdVenture and spacious studio or one bedroom suites with 2 queen beds and a sleeper sofa that accommodates the entire family. Staybridge Suites is located downtown, minutes from museums, parks, restaurants and attractions. A full hot complimentary breakfast buffet will keep everyone going all morning and our DVD and game library will keep everyone entertained at night!
Columbia Art PackageExplore the Columbia Museum of Art - South Carolina's premier international art museum. Book this package and receive 2 tickets to the Columbia Museum of Art, a complimentary bottle of wine, and a welcome bag with information on wonderful attractions in downtown Columbia. This package includes a spacious studio, one or two-bedroom suite and a full hot breakfast buffet every morning. Stay during the week and enjoy a free dinner made by local restaurants at our Sundowner Reception (Monday-Thursday) with beer and wine. For upcoming events, visit columbiamuseum.org.
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President Barack Obama has announced a visit to Cuba next month. The Cuban regime has not improved its human rights record, nor has it made any democratic reforms.
In fact, there is a new flood of Cuban refugees to the U.S., and they are more desperate than ever before.
Obama claims "progress," citing the fact that the U.S. re-opened our embassy in Havana, and more Americans are traveling to Cuba.
But the Cuban regime remains stronger than ever.
"Benghazi" Ben Rhodes, who is a White House deputy national security adviser with no national security credentials, wrote an essay on Medium attempting to justify the president's visit.
While "we do not seek to impose change on Cuba," Rhodes said, Obama wants the U.S. to change–namely, for Congress to "lift an embargo that is not to advancing [sic] the Cuban people's individual well-being and human rights…". Nothing is asked of Cuba in return for that concession.
The administration's defenders claim that 60 years of isolating Cuba not only failed to encourage change, but made the regime stronger. But the regime was never truly isolated. It counted on communist support until the fall of the Soviet Union, and it has been able to rely on trade and tourism with Europe, Canada and Latin America since. Allies like South Africa, whose ruling party Cuba supported for decades, also helped. None of that made Cuba any more free.
There was an opportunity to unite the world against Cuba, and it arose on Obama's watch, in 2013. Panama stopped a North Korean vessel traveling from Cuba, and discovered hundreds of tons of weapons aboard, a blatant violation of UN sanctions under UN Security Council resolutions 1718 and 1874.
The Obama administration, via UN Ambassador Samantha Power, "strongly" condemned Cuba's role–but did nothing to enforce the sanctions.
It was a moment when Obama, who supposedly cares about nuclear non-proliferation, could have rallied the world to isolate Cuba–for real this time.
But as the Miami Herald suggested at the time, Obama backed down because he feared Russia and China would veto any punitive actions taken against Cuba.
(Another Democratic president, John F. Kennedy, showed much more courage in facing down the Soviets at the UN, who were then a far more formidable enemy.)
Instead of tightening the circle around a crumbling, illegitimate regime, Obama threw the Castros a lifeline.
Just months after Cuba was caught supporting North Korea, Obama shook Raúl Castro's hand at Nelson Mandela's funeral. Then came secret talks, and then policy changes–announced in defiance of the 2014 midterm elections, in which Obama's party lost the Senate.
Since then, one unilateral American concession has followed another.
Thanks to Obama, the U.S. no longer talks about democratic change in Cuba. Secretary of John Kerry traveled to Havana and declared, "I feel very much at home here," while millions of Cubans remained forbidden to leave. Kerry even excluded Cuban dissidents from the re-opening of the U.S. embassy, failing to use the smallest amount of leverage to send a message to the regime. Meanwhile, the Castros continue to assist America's enemies brazenly.
Those who defend Obama's policy argue that it is better to engage rogue regimes than to shun them. That may be true in some cases, but in the past, the U.S. engaged totalitarian regimes in ways that served our national interests.
President Richard M. Nixon went to China, despite its brutal human rights abuses (which continue today), because he correctly saw an opportunity to separate it from the Soviet Union, and to isolate that far more dangerous enemy.
There is no clear national interest in Obama's outreach to the Cuban regime, other than Obama's own vanity, and the same special interests that Republicans like Texas Gov. Greg Abbott served when he, too, went to Cuba last year and failed to meet with any political dissidents.
Obama wants to make history, but he wants to do it the easy way–by surrendering to tyranny, not by working hard to achieve our goals, including human rights and democracy.
If we are to engage with our enemies, it should be on our terms. We should force them to make choices that will, in the end, strengthen our own position.
A prime example was the Jackson-Vanik Amendment of 1974, which gave the Soviet Union important trade concessions–but only in return for improvements in human rights, particularly the freedom to emigrate. As former dissident Natan Sharansky notes, that deal slowly undermined the USSR.
Barack Obama, who casts his presidency as a step toward fulfilling "the long arc of justice," has taken human rights off the international agenda, and has done so in a case where the U.S. actually had leverage to promote freedom.
Instead of "smart power" and diplomacy, he opted for capitulation to one of the world's most repressive and dangerous regimes. He is skipping a visit to U.S. troops at Guantánamo Bay, which he likely considers worse.
Instead, he is looking forward to having "fun" on his visit to the leftist paradise. He reportedly "expects" to meet with dissidents as well, but don't expect him to insist on it. (I hope I am wrong.) And which ones will he meet? Those jailed by the regime? Or those permitted to speak?
Mao Zedong is said to have remarked of the French Revolution: "it's too early to judge."
And so, too, with the Cold War. We thought we had won, but all it took was a leftist fellow-traveler to hand victory to the enemy.
This post has been updated.


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Debit card rewards may survive in an era of regulated swipe fees, but they'll have to be funded differently.
That reality was reinforced twice in the last few weeks first when a federal judge ruled that the two-year-old price cap on debit swipe fees must be lowered, and again when a Boston start-up that had been offering consumers a generous package of debit rewards went out of business.
Both developments also made clear that the heyday of cash-back rewards that rely on swipe fee revenue is past. The future of debit rewards which have long helped fuel deposit growth for many banks will hinge on the banks' ability to generate money by steering customers to specific retail partners.
PerkStreet Financial, which announced Aug. 12 its plan to shut down, had hoped to lure customers away from attractive credit card rewards offers. "We are obsessed with finding more ways to put more cash back in people's pockets," chief executive officer Dan O'Malley said in a 2010 interview.
Customers signed up online for a PerkStreet-branded checking account. Because the accounts were held at partner banks with less than $10 billion in assets, PerkStreet had a leg up over large banks that were subject to the 24-cent cap on debit card swipe fees. And the firm's branchless business model provided additional cost savings.
But countervailing factors eventually proved fatal.
Year after year of low interest rates made it difficult to make money from checking accounts. There were also drawbacks to being a start-up incumbent banks had a built-in deposit base, so PerkStreet had to be more generous with rewards to attract business. "It's such a knife fight to acquire customers," O'Malley said in 2012.
Last year PerkStreet stopped offering 2% rebates for customers with at least a $5,000 annual balance. Now the company is shutting down after failing to secure additional funding from investors.
For all intents and purposes, "they're an online bank basically trying to dive into a space that's already incredibly competitive," says Aleia Van Dyke, a payments analyst at Javelin Strategy and Research. "And it's hard to make a lot of money in that space."
CEO O'Malley blames his company's demise largely on regulatory uncertainty and volatility in the banking industry. "The environment of the last several years just made it very, very hard to build a company," he says.
Ever since the passage of the swipe fee price cap as part of the Dodd-Frank Act in 2010, bankers have been looking to rebuild debit rewards using revenue from partnering retailers, rather than the diminished pool of interchange fees.
That shift could be hastened by the recent federal court ruling. The decision is subject to appeal, but assuming it's upheld, it would require federal regulators to cut the 24-cent swipe fee cap for large banks by half or more.
The court ruling also threatens to spark more competition in the routing of signature debit purchases, which in turn could reduce swipe fee revenues for small banks that are exempt from the price cap.
The idea of getting retailers to pick up the tab for customer rewards has undeniable appeal to bankers who've spent many years fighting with merchants over swipe fee revenue.
Merchant-funded rewards programs often use each consumer's shopping history to target specific offers. For example, a checking accountholder who frequently orders pizza from Domino's might get offers for discounts at a local competitor. A consumer who regularly shops in certain stores might earn points redeemable in gift cards.
One of the challenges for banks is proving to retailers that the rewards offers are adding to the merchants' bottom line.
"It's a bit of a chicken-and-egg situation," says Zilvinas Bareisis, a senior analyst at Celent who has written about merchant-funded rewards programs. "You need to bring in cardholders. You need to bring in merchants. And you need to have merchants dedicating significant parts of their budget to this program. That takes time."
The banks that offer merchant-funded rewards are competing with companies like Groupon and Living Social. Mobile wallets are likely to become bigger rivals in the next few years.
One advantage for banks is their control over detailed individual spending data.
Another edge is that banks often have longstanding customer relationships with retail stores. Bankers who are already making small business loans to merchants also have an opportunity to sign them up for a debit rewards program.
"The thing that makes it work is the feet on the street," argues Brian Riley, a payments analyst at CEB TowerGroup.
Merchant funding has been talked about as the future of debit rewards ever since the swipe fee price cap passed Congress, and a number of vendors are building such programs rewards for banks.
"Issuer-funded debit rewards has to fundamentally change from what it used to be," says Jay Valanju, the CEO of fisoc inc., one of the vendors competing to sign up banks.
His company concentrates on enrolling local merchants, arguing that mom-and-pop stores will see that it's worth their while to pay rewards to divert shoppers from Wal-Mart, Target and other big-box chains.
Fisoc's program, known as Buzz Points, begins with merchants and banks sharing the costs, but typically it is fully funded by the retailers within a few months, Valanju says.
Cadence Bank, a $5.7 billion asset institution with branches in the Southeast and in Texas, is among the banks that are using Buzz Points. Cadence's rewards program still relies on funding from both the bank and retailers, says Rick Claypoole, the bank's director of retail product management and marketing.
"It's a mix," he says. "Over time, we will look to shift the balance of that" in favor of merchant-funded rewards.
"The whole notion of merchant-funded' is relatively new," Claypoole adds. "A lot more needs to be learned and proven and tested over time."
PerkStreet's now-defunct rewards program was also funded partly by swipe fee revenue and partly by merchants, according to CEO O'Malley.
He argues that merchant-funded rewards providers need to do a better job of proving to retailers that they are getting a good return on their dollars invested.
"I think we're bullish on the idea of merchant-funded rewards," O'Malley says. "I think it'll happen, but I think it might take two or three years."


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This year, colleges and universities across Canada received 22 applications for the Esri Young Scholar Award—a record number. Find out who was selected as the 2015 Esri Young Scholar for Canada and the top candidates from PhD, Masters, undergraduate and college programs.
The Esri Young Scholar Award recognizes exemplary work in geospatial sciences. Although traditionally geospatial sciences fall within the field of geography and geomatics, this year's applicants included students from such diverse disciplines as forestry, environmental studies, anthropology, archaeology and even business.
The judging panel comprised faculty members from four universities in Canada, plus the Director, Education and Research, at Esri Canada. Thank you to all of the judges for their time and effort!
Congratulations to the top ranked students:
- Top candidate in a PhD program, and 2015 Esri Young Scholar for Canada: Shane Furze, Faculty of Forestry and Environmental Management, University of New Brunswick.
- Top candidate in a Master's program: Robert Gustas, Department of Anthropology, University of Alberta.
- Top candidate in an undergraduate program: Craig Allison, Honours Geography and Environmental Sciences, McMaster University.
- Top candidate in a college program: Danielle Venne, Environmental Technology program, Georgian College.
Learn more about the top ranked students and their work in the 2015 Esri Young Scholars Award – Canada Map Journal.
About the Author
Krista Amolins is a Higher Education Developer and Analyst in the Esri Canada Education and Research group. Her responsibilities include developing resources for use by students and faculty at colleges and universities, focusing particularly on LiDAR, JavaScript and Android app development; collaborating on projects with researchers at select universities; and coordinating the Esri Canada scholarship programs. She has a PhD in Geomatics Engineering from the University of New Brunswick and also holds the Esri ArcGIS Desktop Associate Certification.More Content by Krista Amolins


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Legal Status
Document Details
Published Document
The ACRS Subcommittee on Plant License Renewal will hold a meeting on September 25, 2001, Room T-2B3, 11545 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland.
The entire meeting will be open to public attendance.
The agenda for the subject meeting shall be as follows: Tuesday, September 25, 2001—8:30 a.m. until the conclusion of business
The Subcommittee will discuss the draft Safety Evaluation Report, with open items, concerning the license renewal application for Turkey Point Nuclear Plant, Units 3 and 4; and the associated Westinghouse Topical Reports. The purpose of this meeting is to gather information, analyze relevant issues and facts, and to formulate proposed positions and actions, as appropriate, for deliberation by the full Committee.
Oral statements may be presented by members of the public with the concurrence of the Subcommittee Chairman; written statements will be accepted and made available to the Committee. Electronic recordings will be permitted only during those portions of the meeting that are open to the public, and questions may be asked only by members of the Subcommittee, its consultants, and staff. Persons desiring to make oral statements should notify the cognizant ACRS staff engineer named below five days prior to the meeting, if possible, so that appropriate arrangements can be made.
During the initial portion of the meeting, the Subcommittee, along with any of its consultants who may be present, may exchange preliminary views regarding matters to be considered during the balance of the meeting.
The Subcommittee will then hear presentations by and hold discussions with representatives of the NRC staff, the Florida Power and Light Company, and other interested persons regarding this review.
Further information regarding topics to be discussed, whether the meeting has been canceled or rescheduled, and the Chairman's ruling on requests for the opportunity to present oral statements and the time allotted therefor, can be obtained by contacting the cognizant ACRS staff engineer, Mr. Noel F. Dudley (telephone 301/415-Start Printed Page 472486888) between 7:00 a.m. and 3:45 p.m. (EDT). Persons planning to attend this meeting are urged to contact the above named individual one or two working days prior to the meeting to be advised of any potential changes to the agenda, etc., that may have occurred.Start Signature
Dated: August 30, 2001.
Sher Bahadur,
Associate Director for Technical Support, ACRS/ACNW.
[FR Doc. 01-22763 Filed 9-10-01; 8:45 am]


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Recently, the German Society of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine (DGAI) has published their first ever Recommendation on prehospital emergency anesthesia. Since in Germany there is a system with both paramedics (currently 2 years of training, just now "upgraded" to 3 years) and a broad availability of prehospital emergency physicians on rapid response vehicles and helicopters (about 1.000 emergency vehicles in the country) often times, even complex airway management is done "in the field".
So – what is the DGAI recommending?
The central points in the recommendations are:
- Critical scrutiny of the indication to induct prehospital anesthesia
- RSI with a standardized approach, standardized equipment and medications, in-line-stabilization (if needed), capnography
- Preoxygenation via face-mask with reservoir or noninvasive ventilation (NIV)
- Basic monitoring that needs to be there: ECG monitoring, automatic blood pressure, pulse oxymetry, capnography
- If possible two venous accesses
Indications to induce prehospital anesthesia are:
- Respiratory insufficiency (hypoxemia or hyper/hypoventilation) and contraindication or failure of noninvasive ventilation (NIV)
- Reduced consciousness / neurologic deficit with risk of aspiration
- Polytrauma / massive trauma with hemodynamic instability or hypoxia or suspicion of traumatic brain injury with GCS <9.
Goals of prehospital anesthesia are:
- Amnesia
- Anxiolysis
- Reduction of stress
- Analgesia
- Effective airway protection
- Reduction in Oxygen consumption
- Protection of vital organs, reduction/prevention of secondary myocardial or cerebral damage
There is a lot of emphasis on preparation, team communication and team management.
Before starting with the "real" RSI, there needs to be the indication and team communication. While preoxygenation is started, optimal positioning, preparation of medications, airway alternatives, suction and capnography as well as monitoring and two IV-accesses are prepared. Only then RSI is started. (There is no "checklist" per se, as it is recommended in a few of the other online available airway algorithms, e.g. Sydney HEMS or EMcrit.
In the case of cannot ventilate / cannot intubate they suggest a "forward strategy" since the option to return to spontaneous breathing is in preclinical emergency medicine – contrary to clinical anesthesia – mostly only a theoretical option.
Now to what I really like about this guideline – they managed to group prehospital patients into different scenarios and have suggestions for induction in all of them. Since we as prehospital emergency doctors treat such a broad range of patients, a "one size fits all" concept does not always apply (the only exeption being of course Ketamine, which I love dearly ;-)).
I list their recommendations here – please feel free to discuss and offer your opinions! By the way – they to use S-Ketamin/Ketanest here (double potency of Ketamine), so don't be surprised by the seemingly low doses of Ketamine. Also, they suggest push-dose-pressors of 10yg of Norepinephrine given with low blood pressure, or via continuous infusion.
Massive Trauma
Analgosedation until extrication is achieved (if needed):
Midazolam 3mg + S-Ketamin 25mg (every 10min rep bolus 10mg if needed)
Midazolam 7mg OR Propofol 100mg OR Thiopental 200mg
+ S-Ketamin 100mg OR Fentanyl 0,2mg OR Sufentanil 20yg
+ Rocuronium 70-100mg OR Succinylcholine 100mg
Midazolam 3-5mg (every 20mins)
+ S-Ketamin 20mg (every 20 mins) OR Fentanyl 0,15mg (every 20 mins)
+ Rocuronium 20mg (every 20min)
Isolated traumatic brain injury, stroke, intracranial hemmorhage
Thiopental 300mg or Propofol 140mg
+ Fentanyl 0,2mg OR Sufentanil 20yg OR S-Ketamin 100mg
+ Rocuronium 70-100mg OR Succinylcholine 70mg
Midazolam 3-5mg (every 20mins)
+ Fentanyl 0,15mg (every 20 mins)
High Risk Cardiac Patient – two cases with different suggestions
1.) Hypertensive pulmonary edema, hypoxemia, failure of NIV
Fentanyl 0,2mg OR Sufentanil 20yg iv
+ Etomidate 20mg
+ Rocuronium 70-100mg OR Succinylcholine 70mg
Midazolam 3-5mg (every 20mins)
+ Fentanyl 0,1mg (every 20 mins)
2.) Cardiogenic shock, hypotensive, hypoxemia
Fentanyl 0,2mg OR Sufentanil 20yg iv
+ Midazolam 7mg
+ Rocuronium 70-100mg OR Succinylcholine 70mg
Midazolam 3-5mg (every 20mins)
+ Fentanyl 0,1mg (every 20 mins)
Respiratory insufficiency
Version 1:
Fentanyl 0,2mg OR Sufentanil 20yg iv
+ Propofol 110-160mg or Etomidate 20mg
+ Rocuronium 70-100mg OR Succinylcholine 100mg
Midazolam 3-5mg (every 20mins)
+ Fentanyl 0,15mg (every 20 mins)
Version 2:
S-Ketamin 35-100mg
+ Midazolam 7mg
+ Rocuronium 70-100mg OR Succinylcholine 100mg
Midazolam 3-5mg (every 20mins)
+ S-Ketamin 20mg (every 20 mins)
What I think: I think this is a great step forward to standardize the prehospital airway management in Germany. Ketamine was prominently managed, even while some Anesthesiologists out there still seem to think of it only a "last resort medication in trauma". Also,the focus pre-, peri- and post-RSI communication within the team is very well done. Some medication combinations are not what I would use, but there are very good arguments in all the cases. Notably absent is the use apneic oxygenation. Maybe in the next version there will be a stronger emphasis on video laryngoscopy, checklists and even a part on prehospital procedural sedation.
But what do you think? Is this similar to what you use in the prehospital field (or the resus room) or do you have totally different regimes?
Link to the german version of the recommendations: AWMF.


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Leatherbury and Ah Day's bloodlines go way back
Legendary Maryland trainer King Leatherbury has also been quite successful in the breeding business - reaching a high mark in the 1980's and 90's with the Maryland-bred champions Thirty Eight Go Go and Notches Trace, daughters of his foundation mare Dronette.
Proving that his homebreds, as well as his training skills, are still a force to be reckoned with, the 72-year-old Leatherbury sent out the gelding Ah Day to a longshot victory in Laurel Park's Horatius Stakes on March 4.
Ah Day (by Malibu Moon), a 3-year-old grandson of Dronette, has yet to win full-fledged esteem from his trainer.
"I'm not going to get too high on him right now, but at least I can catch up on all my bills," Leatherbury said.
Leatherbury expected Ah Day to finish no better than third in the Horatius, which drew top local contenders Great Seneca and Rainbow Inthestorm, trained, respectively, by brothers Gary and Dale Capuano.
But the two favorites engaged in an early speed contest, blitzing through fractions of 21.87 seconds for a quarter-mile and 45.20 for half, paving the way for Ah Day. He passed the tiring rivals and completed the six furlongs in 1:11.26, paying $24.40 to win and earning a relatively impressive Beyer Speed Figure of 93.
It was the fifth career start for Ah Day, who has raced exclusively at Laurel. He won his maiden in his second start, a front-running score in a five-furlong maiden special weight on Dec. 21, and came right back to place second (beaten 5 3/4 lengths by Great Seneca) in the 5 1/2-furlong Dancing Count Stakes on Jan. 1. Stretched out to a mile in allowance company on Feb. 2, he finished third, in his least-inspiring performance to date. The stakes victory boosted Ah Day's earnings to $78,680.
Ah Day (the name has its origins in a native American language, and was chosen by Leatherbury's wife, Linda) is out of the 12-year-old mare Endette, whose sire, Thirty Eight Paces, helped boost Leatherbury's training career.
"We named her Endette because she was the last foal out of Dronette - the end," said Leatherbury.
Leatherbury's association with Dronette (a 1978 daughter of Drone-Stacey d'Ette, by Pago Pago) began in 1982, when he bought her at a Timonium auction for $57,000, in partnership with Hermen Greenberg. At the time, Dronette was carrying her first foal, a Seclusive colt named Lone Roan, who became a stakes-placed earner of $53,636.
Dronette's second foal, Notches Trace (1983, by Lord Gaylord), won or placed in nine stakes, including a victory in the Grade 3 Betsy Ross Handicap, earning $360,562. She was named champion Maryland-bred handicap mare in 1988.
Notches Trace was sold privately by Leatherbury for $85,000 in the fall of her 3-year-old season, and ran most of her career for other connections. But Leatherbury maintained close ties to Dronette's star performer Thirty Eight Go Go (1985, Thirty Eight Paces) after selling her for $17,500 at the Fasig-Tipton Eastern fall yearling sale.
Thirty Eight Go Go was purchased at that sale by Leatherbury's longtime friends Morgan and Janet Wayson, who turned her over to him to train. In 46 starts over five seasons, she won or placed in 21 stakes. Thirty Eight Go Go attained graded-stakes-winning status at 2, with victories in the Grade 2 Gardenia and Grade 3 Tempted, and was twice Grade 1-placed. She was twice voted a Maryland-bred divisional champion, and concluded her career with earnings of $871,229.
Dronette went on to produce a fourth stakes performer, Twofox, also by Thirty Eight Paces.
Endette retired as a maiden after 14 starts, but, thanks to her, Dronette's legacy is far from over.
All three of Endette's foals of racing age are winners. Next to Ah Day, her best offspring is the 5-year-old gelding Due (by Rinka Das), an allowance winner of $84,360. Endette, one of three broodmares (all daughters of Dronette) currently owned by Leatherbury, has a 2-year-old filly, Dixiette, by Swear by Dixie, a yearling Crowd Pleaser filly, and on Feb. 26 produced a daughter by Parker's Storm Cat.


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Thursday, March 12, 2009
Feeling Shredded
4 comments:
Safe driving for your trip home :) I am so scared for Level 3 of the shred...I've probably done Level 2 10 times or so and I'm still not ready!!ReplyDelete
Oops, meant to say I hope you have a safe drive home...Friday traffic is scary!ReplyDelete
was that salad from BJ's??? Looks great. Was it already prepared or did you assemble it?? What kind of dressing??ReplyDelete
Bolthouse brand dressing is a yogurt based dressing very low in fat that i think is great. Has anyone out there ever tried it??
I love Bolthouse. It is really good!!ReplyDelete
This was pre-made from BJs. It was very good with a light vinaigrette on it. Next time, I would probably ask for the dressing on the side and put it on myself, just because it was a touch soggy last night (and the salad was huge, half fro lunch, half for dinner)